THE MEANING OF SALVATION THROUGH FAITH

ROMANS 3:21-5:11.

Here at verse 21 of chapter three, Paul begins his explanation of the meaning of salvation through faith. This explanation will continue into the middle of chapter 5, verse 11. This explanation is subdivided into three sections:
(1) the explanation of the righteousness of God (3:21-31),
(2) the explanation of the righteousness of faith (4:1-25), and
(3) the conclusion of the explanation of justification through faith (5:1-11).

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

ROMANS 3:21-31.

With this verse, Paul begins his explanation of the righteousness of God. This explanation will continue through verse 31. Paul first explains
(1) the manifestation of the righteousness of God (vv. 21-23) and then he explains
(2) the revelation of the righteousness of God ( Rom. 1:17), which is justification (vv. 24-31).

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD MANIFESTED

ROMANS 3:21-23.


3:21. But now apart from the law
the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22. even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
unto all them who believe;
23. for there is no difference;
for all have sinned and are in want of the glory of God.

3:21. But now apart from the law
the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
In this verse, Paul announces the manifestation of the righteousness of God. Here as in Paul's other letters, the righteousness of God is that activity of God whereby He puts or sets man into right relationship with God Himself (see the discussion of the righteousness of God in the comments on Rom. 1:17). It is synonymous with God's activity of salvation or deliverance. The phrase emphasizes that salvation is a setting or putting of man, who is out of right relationship with God, into right relationship with Him; it puts the stress on the relational aspect of salvation. Paul here declares that the righteousness or salvation of God has been manifested, that is, publicly displayed or disclosed. The Greek verb here (phaneroo) places emphasis on the objective or public character of the disclosure; the perfect tense of the verb indicates a past completed action with present results. As such, it refers to the manifestation of the salvation of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Compare I Tim. 3:16; I Pet. 1:20; I John 1:2; 3:5, 8).

Concerning the circumstances of the manifestation of the righteousness of God, Paul says two things:
(1) it was "apart from the law," and
(2) "the law and prophets bear witness to it."
By the phrase "apart from the law", Paul asserts the separateness of the manifestation of the righteousness of God from the previous covenant of law. As Paul states in the previous verse, the purpose of the law is not salvation but knowledge of sin (see also Gal. 3:21-22).

"3:21 Is the law therefore against the promises of God?
May it not be! For if a law was given that could make alive,
then righteousness could indeed be by the law.
3:22 But the Scriptures has shut up all men under sin,
that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe."
(Gal. 3:21-22 ERS).
Because of their difference of function, the law and salvation through Christ (the manifestation of the righteousness of God) are separate from each other. Jewish legalism had turned the law into a way of salvation. Paul also rejects that misunderstanding of the law; the righteousness of God is apart from the works of the law ( Rom. 4:4-5). Also the concept of the righteousness of God has nothing to do with the legalistic misunderstanding of justification as being set right with God by the meritorious works of the law. The righteousness of God does not refer to the "justice" of God which demands meritorious works for man to be right with God nor to the merits of Christ that is imputed to the believer's account. The righteousness of God is totally and completely apart from such legalistic conceptions. Justification by meritorious works of the law is totally excluded in principle, not because man cannot do them, but because God does not pay attention or regard to them (Deut. 9:4-6; Matt. 20:1-16). Although the manifestation of the righteousness of God is separate from the law, it is not unrelated to the law; "the law and the prophets bear witness to it" (Acts 10:43; Rom. 1:2). This phrase may refer to the O.T. prophecies of the first coming of the Messiah, but here it seems to refer specifically to the O.T. references to the righteousness of God (Psa. 98:2; Isa. 46:13; 51:5; 56:1).

3:22. even the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ
unto all them who believe;
In this verse, Paul further characterizes the righteousness of God. It is "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ." That is, salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. "Faith" here is not the faith of Jesus Christ, that is, the faithfulness of Jesus (subjective genitive), but is the faith in Jesus Christ. That is, our faith is in Jesus Christ as faith's object (objective genitive). The genitive here is not a possesive genitive, but a genitive of description, defining the object of the faith. (Gal. 2:20). The manifestation of the righteousness or salvation of God is experienced and entered into through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is the means by which men are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; faith connects men to Jesus Christ so He can save them.
Having characterized the righteousness of God as through faith in Jesus Christ, Paul asserts that it is "unto all them who believe"; that the righteousness of God is directed to all who believe; that is, the aim and goal of salvation is all who believe. The righteousness of God is not a static something that God gives to men who believe but the dynamic activity of God whereby he puts men into a living right relationship to Himself. From man's side, that right relationship is entered into when men put their faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, there are two sides to the right relationship between man and God: God's side and man's side. On His side, God initiates the relationship by his saving act in Jesus Christ. On his side, man enters into the right relationship with God when he receives by faith the saving act in Jesus Christ as his. In verse 21, Paul speaks of God's side in setting man right with God through Jesus Christ, and here in verse 22 he speaks of man's side in being set right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is both the means by which a man is set right with God and the aim and goal of the activity of God in setting man right with Himself. The aim and goal of the righteousness of God is to produce faith in all men. In other words, its aim and goal is the salvation of all men, no matter what differences there be between men. All need this salvation; for all have sinned. This last phrase, "for there is no difference", should be taken with the next verse and should be in the next verse.

3:23. for there is no difference;
for all have sinned and are in want of the glory of God.
In this verse, Paul summarizes the need of all men for salvation in two statements.
(1) "All have sinned." The Greek word translated "have sinned" here means "missing the mark." The mark is not the law as the divine standard, but God Himself. Man misses the mark when he puts his trust and faith in a false god, a substitute for the true God, rather than the true God ( Rom 1:23, 25).
(2) "All are in want of the Glory of God." The Greek word usually translated here "falling short" means "to be in want of" or "to be in need of." In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, this same word is used in Psa. 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want." (See also Matt. 19:20; Mark 10:21; Luke 15:14; 22:35; John 2:3; I Cor. 1:7; 8:8; 12:24; II Cor. 11:5, 9; 12:11; Phil. 4:12; Heb. 4:1; 11:37; 12:15). The glory of God in the Old Testament is the manifest presence of God (Ex. 16:10; 24:16-17; 33:18-23; compare I Kings 8:10; II Chron. 5:13). Therefore, according to this verse, Paul is saying man does not have this presence of God; he is in want of or need of it. In other words, he is spiritually dead, separated from God's presence. And, as Paul will say in Rom. 5:12d, all have sinned because they are spiritually dead. Hence, "All have sinned and are in want or need of the glory or the presence of God."

THE REVELATION OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

JUSTIFICATION

ROMANS 3:24-31.


24 Being set right freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus:
25. whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in his blood,
to show his righteousness because of the passing over in
the forbearance of God of sins done previously;
26. for the showing of his righteousness in the present time:
that he is righteous and the one who sets right him
who has faith in Jesus.
27. Where then is the boasting? It is excluded.
Through what law? of works?
No, but through the law of faith.
28. For we reckon a man to be set right by faith
apart from the works of the law.
29. Or is God the God of the Jews only?
Is he not the God of the Gentiles also?
Yes, of the Gentiles also:
30. since there is one God who will set right
the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith.
31. Do we nullify therefore the law through faith?
May it not be! On the contrary, we establish the law.

3:24. Being set right freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Paul now turns his attention to justification or the revelation of the righteousness of God. The Greek verb here translated "being justified" (dikaioo) has exactly the same root as the Greek noun (dikaiosune) translated "righteousness." The two concepts are closely related which is not obvious in the English because the English words "justification" and "righteousness" have two different roots. To justify is to be put into the right or set right. It does not mean "to be made righteous" or "to be declared righteous." For righteousness in the Scriptures is not quality or quantity but a relationship. The theological dispute between Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians whether the Greek verb means "make righteous" (Roman Catholic) or "declare righteous" (Protestant) has missed the point. Righteousness is not a thing (neither a quality which man is made to be nor quantity of merit bestowed on man) but a right relationship between God and man. It is not an ethical quality or a legal fiction but a real personal relationship. Justification is the act of God whereby He sets or puts man into right personal relationship with Himself. Justification is then essentially salvation: to justify is to save (Isa. 45:25; 53:11; see Rom. 6:7 where dikaioo is translated "freed" in the RSV). We saw in Rom. 1:17 that in the preaching of the Gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed; that is, the revelation of the righteousness of God is the actualization of the righteousness or salvation of God; it is the act or activity of God setting man right with God Himself. This is the same as justification and it means that justification is the revelation of the righteousness of God.

Paul says that we who believe are being set right
(1) "by grace",
(2) "freely, as a gift," and
(3) "through the redemption in Jesus Christ."
Let us see what Paul meant by these qualifying phrases.

(1) Justification is "by grace." This means that the source of justification is the grace of God. The grace of God is God's love in action. See Eph. 2:5b where the parenthetical statement "by grace you have been saved" explains the statement made in verses 4 and 5a:

"2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love with which he loved us,
2:5 even when we were dead in trespasses,
made alive together with Christ.
(by grace you have been saved)," (Eph. 2:4-5).
The parallelism in thought in verse 2:5 show that the grace of God is the act of the great love of God, who loved us, by which he has saved us, that is, made us alive with Christ.
And God's grace is more than just His favor;
it is His love acting to do something good for us.
The parallelism between the phrase in the second part of verse 5,
"(by grace you have been saved)",
and the phrase in verse 4 and in the first part of verse 5,
"God...out of the great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our offenses,
made us alive together with Christ",
shows that the grace of God by which we are saved is God's love acting to make us alive together with Christ.
That is, this salvation by the grace of God is salvation from death to life.
And since this salvation from death to life is by the love of God,
then the grace of God that saves us is God's love in action to save us.
That is, the grace of God is the love of God acting to do something good for us, to save us.
Now since God's love in action to save us is more than His favor,
then the grace of God is more than just His favor.
That is, the grace of God is God's love in action, not just His favor.
And because He loves us, He has acted to save us from death to life.
Here in Rom. 3:24, Paul is asserting that this love of God has acted to justify us, that is, set us right with Himself. The source of justification is the grace of God: God acting in His love to save us.

(2) Justification is "freely, as a gift" (dorean). This is the method of justification. Justification is a free gift, not earned by works ( Rom. 4:4 - 5). Not because man cannot earn them but because justification is on an entirely different principle, not works but grace. And being given freely, as a gift, implies that justification is through faith as Paul says explicitly below in verses 26, 28, and 30 ( Rom. 5:1; 10:4; Gal. 2:16; 3:8, 24).

(3) Justification is "through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Redemption is the means by which we are justified or set right with God. The redemption that is in Christ Jesus is the deliverance from sin by the payment of a price, a ransom, which is the blood of Christ, that is, His sacrificial death. The price is the means by which the redemption is accomplished (I Pet. 1:18-19; Heb. 9:14-15). According to the English translations (KJV, RSV, NAS, NIV) of Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14, redemption is equivalent to the forgiveness of sins.

"In him [Christ] we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of His grace"
(Eph. 1:7 RSV)

"in whom [Christ] we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins."
(Col. 1:14 RSV)

But the Greek noun aphesis translated "forgiveness" in these passages comes from the Greek verb apheimi. And the basic meaning of this Greek verb is "to send off or away." (see Matt. 13:36, "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house." See also Mark 4:36). Hence the basic meaning of Greek noun aphesis is "a sending away". And depending upon what is being sent away, it can mean "remission," "release," "deliverance," or "set at liberty" (see Luke 4:18). Hence, in Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14, redemption is the release or deliverance from sin and Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14 should be translated:
"In Whom [Christ] we have redemption through His blood,
the deliverance from our offenses,
according to the riches of His grace."
(Eph. 1:7 ERS)

"In Whom [Christ] we have redemption,
the deliverance from our sins."
(Col. 1:14 ERS).

That is, redemption is salvation from sin. The son of Mary was named "Jesus" [Jehovah saves] "for he will save his people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21) And Jesus was manifested in order "to take away sins" (I John 3:5). He is "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Our English word "forgiveness" does not express this meaning. Forgiveness of sins is not usually understood to be the sending away of sins. But salvation is more than just forgiveness; it is basically deliverance from death; it is the resurrection of the dead. Forgiveness of sins is not enough; man needs to be made alive to God because he is spiritually dead. And he is dead not because of his own sins but the sin of another, Adam ( Rom. 5:12). So the forgiveness of a man's sins does not take away spiritual death because the spiritual death was not caused by that man's sins. Removing his sins does not remove the spiritual death. But the removing of spiritual death removes his sins. Salvation as resurrection from the dead is also salvation from sin and thus is also the forgiveness of sins. Thus to be alive to God means that sins are forgiven, since they have been redeemed from sin.

This redemption from sin was accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ because His death is also the means by which we were delivered from death, the cause of sin. Since spiritual death leads to sin ( Rom. 5:12d), sin reigns in the sphere of death's reign ( Rom. 5:21). And since Christ's death is the end of the reign of death for those who died and have been raised with Christ, it is also the end of the reign of sin over them. They are no longer slaves of sin, serving false gods. Sin is a slave master ( Rom. 6:16-18) and this slave master is the false god in which the sinner trusts. We were all slaves of sin once, serving our false gods when we were spiritually dead, alienated and separated from the true God, not knowing Him personally. But we were set free from this slavery to sin through the death of Christ. For when Christ died for us, He died to sin ( Rom. 6:10a) as a slave master. Sin no longer has dominion or lordship over Him. For he who has died is freed from sin ( Rom. 6:7). That is, when a slaves dies, he is no longer in slavery, death frees him from slavery. Since Christ died for all, then all have died (II Cor. 5:14). His death is our death. Since we have died with Him and He has died to sin, then we have died to sin. We are freed from the slavery of sin and are no longer enslaved to it ( Rom. 6:6-7). But now Christ is alive, having been raised from the dead, and we are alive to God in Him. His resurrection is our resurrection. "But the life He lives He lives to God" ( Rom. 6:10b). This is the life of righteousness. Since righteousness is basically trust or faith in God ( Rom. 4:3-5), so we who are now alive to God in Him are to live to righteousness, that is, by faith in God. For just as death leads to sin, so life leads to righteousness.

"And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,
that we being dead to sin might live to righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed." (I Pet. 2:24 ERS)
Having been redeemed from the slavery of sin through the death of Christ, we who are now alive in Him have become slaves of righteousness ( Rom. 6:17-18). Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.

3:25. whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in his blood,
to show his righteousness because of the passing over in
the forbearance of God of sins done previously;
In this verse, Paul explains the manner or the way God dealt with His wrath. Christ's death was a propitiation to turn away his wrath. In the Old Testament, the means by which God's wrath may be turned aside involves the purging of the sin. This may be done, for example, by completely destroying the offending city (Deut. 13:15-17), slaying those who had sinned as at Baal-Peor (Num. 25:4), releasing captives (II Chron. 28:11-13), putting away heathen wives (Ezra 10:14). In the case of the individual, the putting away of sin involves a change of heart attitude, repentance (Jonah 3:7, 10), humbling oneself (II Chron. 12:7), circumcising the heart (Jer. 4:4) and doing judgment (Jer. 21:12). It is the absence of this inward change of heart and attitude and the corresponding outward change in actions that brought about the rejection and condemnation by the psalmists and prophets of the divinely appointed system of offerings and sacrifices (I Sam. 15:22; Psa. 51:16-17; Hosea 6:6). (See also Psa. 4:5; 40:6-8; 50:7-23; 69:30-31; Prov. 15:8; 21:3; Isa. 1:11-17; Jer. 7:21-26; Amos 5:21-24; Micah 6:6-8.) These divinely appointed offerings and sacrifices were intended to be a means of turning away God's wrath, but the absence of a correct inward heart attitude and the corresponding correct outward actions made them into an empty ritual and an abomination to God. Without repentance and faith they ceased to be an atonement or means of propitiation.

The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11). On the contrary, there is in those sacrifices a continual remembrance of sin year by year (Heb. 10:3). That is, the worshippers, not having been cleansed of their sins, still have a consciousness of sin (Heb. 10:2). Therefore, those that draw near could never be made perfect by those sacrifices (Heb. 10:1). But Christ has put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26; 10:12), and has made perfect them that are being sanctified or set apart to God (Heb. 10:14). Now there is no more remembrance of sins (Heb. 10:17), since those drawing near having been cleansed from their sins have no more consciousness of sins (Heb. 10:22). It was to accomplish our cleansing from sin that Christ "gave Himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4) and "died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3). God has acted in Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin.

Now that God has redeemed us from sin, we are also delivered from the wrath of God. Salvation is not only deliverance from sin but also deliverance from the wrath of God ( Rom. 5:9). God "put forth Jesus Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood" ( Rom. 3:25). The death of Jesus Christ is a propitiation because it is the means that God has appointed for turning away His wrath from man. While God in His love could have mercy on man and turn away His wrath from man (Psa. 78:38; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:19-20), God has appointed means whereby His wrath will be turned away. In the Old Testament, God's appointed means for turning away His wrath were the sacrifices and offerings. When these sacrifices were offered in true repentance and faith, they were an atonement or propitiation. But these sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11); that is, they could not bring about the repentance and faith because they could not make alive ( Gal. 3:21).

But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, man can be made alive to God and his sins taken away. And since then there are no sins to cause wrath, the wrath of God is turned away. Thus Christ's death is the perfect sacrifice for turning away God's wrath because by it man is redeemed from sin. No sin, no wrath. Christ's death is a propitiation because it is a redemption; it is both a propitiation and a redemption. Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of Christ's work of salvation. And redemption is the liberation aspect of His work of salvation. Being made alive to God, the cause of sin (death) and the cause of wrath (sin) has been removed.

In the last part of this verse (3:25) and in the next verse, Paul explains the purpose of justification: "to show forth God's righteousness." In this verse, he explains the purpose of God's righteousness in the past and in the next verse he explains the purpose of God's righteousness in the present. Since the Old Testament sacrifices could not take away sins, God in His forbearance past over (paresis) those sins previously done. The Old Testament sacrifices could only cover (kipper) the sins, not take them away. They turned away the wrath of God, because the sacrifices removed them (so to speak) from God's sight. But the sins were not taken away. God in his forbearance made this arrangement, appointing the sacrifices, until Christ would come and do what those sacrifices could never do, take away sin. In Christ's death as a propitiation, God showed His righteousness in dealing with sin in this way; God passed over those past sins because God intended to deal with them fully and completely in the death of His Son.

3:26. for the showing of his righteousness in the present time:
that he is righteous and the one who sets right him
who has faith in Jesus.
In this verse, Paul explains the purpose of God's righteousness in the present: "for the showing of His righteousness in the present time; that He is righteous and the one who sets right him who has faith in Jesus."
The present demonstration of His righteousness has a twofold purpose:
(1) to show what kind of God He is and
(2) to act to put into the right those who have faith in Jesus.
The first thing God wants to do in the death of Christ was to show that He was not just a God of wrath but a God of salvation (Isa. 45:21; Zech. 9:9; Jer. 23:6; 33:16). Paul is not saying here that God is a just God in the Greek-Roman sense of justice as that principle in God's nature whereby He must give to each that which is due to him because he has earned and thus merited it. Neither is Paul here saying that the justice of God was satisfied by the death of Christ. There is not a hint of any such concept here or anywhere in the Scriptures. But what Paul is saying here is that God is righteous in that He acts to bring man into right relationship to Himself thus saving him. The second thing that God wants do in the death of Christ is set into right relationship those who have faith. God not only wants to show what He is but to do according to what He is. Note that Paul connects this statement of the twofold purpose of God in showing His righteousness, not with adversative conjunction (de or alla, "but"), but with a continuative conjunction (kai, "and"): "to be righteous and the one who sets right him who has faith in Jesus." There is no hint here of an antithesis between justice and love. Nor that God's justice must be satisfied in order that God in his love may be able to justify. God's righteousness is an expression of His love (Psa. 103:17; 33:5; 36:5-6; 40:10; 89:14). God expresses His love as righteousness in the activity by which He saves His people from their sins. Thus in His love He sets them right with Himself. God does not condone their sins but saves them from them.

3:27. Where then is the boasting? It is excluded.
Through what law? of works?
No, but through the law of faith.
In this and next four verses, Paul show some of the results of justification through faith by a series of questions. The first set of these questions in this verse shows that faith in principle excludes or shuts out boasting. In principle, the works of the law does not exclude boasting because salvation or justification by meritorious works inherently depends on boasting; it is something which one earns and thus one can take credit for it. It boasts in what it has accomplished by its meritorious works. Faith, on the other hand, excludes boasting because it is a relationship to another person or thing which is the object of the faith. Faith is relational; it is faith in someone or something. And apart from its object, faith is nothing -- it is then not even faith. It is its object that makes faith into faith. Faith boasts in its object, not in the one having faith. Thus faith is inherently non-meritorious although it is something man does; it is non-meritorious because it is a relationship of trust between the person trusting and the person or thing that is trusted. Thus the law or principle of faith excludes boasting.

3:28. For we reckon a man to be set right by faith
apart from the works of the law.
In this verse, Paul states why justification through faith excludes boasting. Justification through faith is apart from the works of the law. There is a complete separation between justification through faith and justification through meritorious works. And since faith excludes boasting, so justification through faith excludes boasting. This statement in this verse is extremely important for it makes explicit what is implicit in the statement in verse 21: "apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested." The manifestation of the righteousness of God or God's salvation is not only separate from the Mosaic covenant of law, but is also separate from the legalistic distortion and misunderstanding of that law, that is, justification by the meritorious works of the law.

3:29-30.
"29 Or is God the God of the Jews only?
Is he not the God of the Gentiles also?
Yes, of the Gentiles also:
30 since there is one God who will set right
the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith."
In these two verses, Paul asserts that justification is for all, Jew or Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised. There is only one way of salvation for all men and that is through faith. If salvation or justification is through meritorious works of the law, only those who had the law of God could be saved. And since the Jews only had the law of God, the Gentiles would be excluded and God would be the God the Jew only. Paul argues in this verse that God is not God of Jews only, but also of the Gentiles also. And since there is one God for both Jew and Gentile, God justifies the Jew (circumcised) by faith and the Gentile (uncircumcision) through faith. There is only one way of salvation and that is through faith, and not by the works of the law.

3:31. Do we nullify therefore the law through faith?
May it not be! On the contrary, we establish the law.
In this verse, Paul states that there is positive relationship between the law and justification through faith. Faith does not destroy the law but establishes it. Paul here only asserts the positive relationship without giving an explanation. His explanation is implicit in his statement of the function of the law in verses 19 and 20 of this chapter. The function of the law is the knowledge of sin. And this function of the law is established by faith, since the faith recognizes that all have sinned and are in need of glory of God or the salvation of God. The law shows man's sin and faith receives the salvation by God from sin. The law and faith are not opposed; they have complementary but not the same functions. Now faith is opposed to justification by the meritorious works of the law. This justification by the merit-works of the law is not a function of law given by God, and it is really a distortion and misunderstanding of that law. God never gave the law for this purpose; it is only man, who wants something to boast about before God, who has added this idea to God's law. Justification through faith is opposed to this way of salvation. Faith destroys or abolishes (katargeo) this way of justification by the works of the law, but not the real law of God. Salvation by faith establishes the real law that shows the need for salvation.